


After Midnight

by internalunrest



Series: Obvious [1]
Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: AU, Apartment AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-05
Updated: 2015-04-05
Packaged: 2018-03-21 07:48:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3684009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/internalunrest/pseuds/internalunrest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mikey and Frank are neighbors, and Mikey's working late. Gerard needs somewhere to wait for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After Midnight

Frank is confused. For a split second, barely enough time to process the thought, he wondered if he had in fact been hit by the car that he narrowly avoided, and was either dead or in a coma somewhere. His next thought is that he did something really kind lately, and this was his good karma coming back to him. He can’t think of anything he’s done lately, though, so he figures there had to me a mix up or something. Maybe the guy has the wrong apartment number.  
Frank is confused because there is a man sitting in front of his apartment door, legs folded together and a sketchpad on one knee. The man is really, really pretty. His long black (slightly unwashed, it seems) hair is pushed off his face and the tip of his tongue is peeking out between his pink lips in concentration. He is apparently oblivious to the world around him, because he hasn’t looked up yet even though Frank has been hovering for, like, probably almost a minute now. He clears his throat.  
The guy’s head snaps up and his wide, bright eyes lock with Frank’s and yeah, something wrong is going on because Frank doesn’t just have guys this attractive around him for no good reason.  
“Gerard!” the guy says, loudly, and stands up. He forgets that he’s got a sketchpad on his lap and it almost hits the floor but he manages to catch it awkwardly, sticking out his other hand as an invitation to shake. Frank is still confused. It must show on his face, because the guy gives an encouraging nod and leans forward somewhat. “I, uh, I’m Gerard. I’m Mikey’s brother. Your new neighbor? You are Frank right?” he asks, his voice rising, and he turns his head to check the little letters on the door. “3B, that’s what Mikey said-“ he rambles, whipping back around to stare at Frank, eyes wider than before. The hand that was out for a shake is now in the pocket of his hoodie.  
“Yeah,” Frank says, stupidly. He stares for a moment before he collects himself. “I mean, yeah, I’m Frank. Yeah, I know Mikey.” He fiddles with his keys, still not understanding what the guy is doing waiting for him to come home. “Why are you, like-“ he starts, and Gerard cuts him off.  
“He’s not home! He told me to wait for you because he said you’d let me hang out until he got back, ‘cause he has to stay late at work. Is that okay? You totally don’t have to let me in, I’m fine in the hallway.” The guy – _Gerard_ \- sucks his lower lip into his mouth and tries to take a step back, and is stopped by Frank’s door.  
Frank thinks for a second, because while this guy is totally gorgeous and everything, and Mikey is cool, he could still be a murderer or a thief just trying to case his apartment. He squints a little. “You’re not just trying to, like, case my apartment are you? ‘Cause I gotta tell you man, I don’t have anything to steal, you’d be better off a couple blocks north of this dump,” he says, watching Gerard’s reaction.  
Gerard shakes his head earnestly, his brows pulling together just a bit. “No! No, not casing. Promise,” he says solemnly, removing his hand from his pocket to put it over his heart. Frank looks at him for a few more beats before he nods, shrugging one shoulder at the same time.  
“Yeah, okay. Come on in.”  
-  
“You can just, uh, make yourself at home,” Frank gestures to his sofa, inclining his head just slightly. He wishes he’d known there was gonna be a _seriously fucking cute guy_ in his apartment, he’d have cleaned up some. He walks down the tiny hall to his room, not looking back to see if Gerard went to the living room or not. Once the door is shut behind him, he rubs his hands over his face and lets out a long breath.  
He can totally do this. It’s not like he hasn’t been around attractive people before. It’s just, he usually sees them first, gets to puff out his chest and steel himself for the coming rejection of his efforts at flirting. He pulls his shirt over his head and steps toward his dresser, pursing his lips.  
-  
Oh, come _on_. Gerard is so going to murder Mikey. Maybe with his bare hands. The guy is hot as all hell, and did Gerard get any warning? Of course not. God.  
Gerard is staring. He’s staring and he knows it and thank every God there is that Frank isn’t facing him, because he wouldn’t be able to pull his eyes off the guy if he tried.  
Frank had come back from what was presumably his room in a t-shirt that looks old and worn, hanging loosely from his heavily tattooed body. His jeans are just baggy enough to be comfortable but not look stupid, and there are holes in the knees that reveal – you guessed it – more tattoos. Gerard might actually have a heart attack.  
Frank is bent over at the waist, squatting just slightly and rooting around in a ground-level cupboard. Gerard doesn’t even realize the guy is talking until he’s standing in the threshold between the kitchen and living room, eyebrow raised expectantly. Gerard has to literally pry his eyes from Frank’s body to look him in the eyes, and yeah, he was so not slick about that, Frank totally noticed. “What?” he asks, assuming that Frank had said something. One side of Frank’s mouth pulls up for a moment, before it settles back down.  
“I said, do you want any coffee? Otherwise I have, like, tap water. And beer.”  
Gerard nods, probably a little too vigorously, and wipes his clammy palms on his thighs. “Coffee is great,” he replies, managing a small smile. He can feel the blush creeping up his neck to his face, and he swallows, hard. Frank just nods, a tiny smirk still on his face, and turns back to the kitchen.  
-  
“You’re kidding me!” Gerard laughs, loud, and almost knocks over a lamp as he throws his arm out to the side. “How can you say Frankenstein’s monster is the best? What about Dracula? Vampires are way more realistic than stitching up dead parts and reanimating them!”  
“Bullshit!” Frank exclaims, leaning forward, eyes bright. “Vampires are dead! They’re actually just dead. You can’t be dead and alive, and there’s no way in hell a mutation like that could actually occur. You’re whacked.”  
On the coffee table, Gerard’s phone lights up and begins to vibrate. He gives Frank a look, one that says ‘give me two minutes and I’ll school your ass,’ and opens his phone. He glances at the time as he does so and wow, he hadn’t realized it was getting so late. He’s been at Frank’s for, what, like three hours now.  
“’Lo?” he asks as he puts the phone against his ear.  
“Hey, I’m still at work. I’m really sorry, you should probably just not wait up for me,” is Mikey’s hello, in his usual bland voice, but Gerard can tell that Mikey is actually a bit apologetic.  
Gerard gives a small frown, and Frank raises his eyebrows a little. “Oh. Alright, well. How about we get lunch tomorrow?”  
“That sounds good, Gee,” Mikey says, and Frank says “Where is he?” and Gerard can literally hear that bastard smile on his brother’s smug face. “Are you with Frank?”  
Gerard can’t help but smile. “Yeah, dick. I’ll talk to you about that later.”  
Mikey laughs. “Love you bro.”  
“You too,” Gerard replies, and ends the call. He glances at Frank, and chews on the inside of his cheek before saying, “Mikey’s still at work. So I guess I should like. Go,” he mumbles, reluctantly, not meeting Frank’s eyes.  
Frank shifts a little and on the edge of his vision, Gerard can see him frown. “I mean, you don’t have to. Like, if you don’t want to. I don’t mind.”  
Gerard looks up, watches Frank picking nervously at a loose thread on the knee of his jeans, and breathes in, out, and then says “yeah, okay.”  
-  
It’s late. Probably around 3 in the morning if Frank thinks about it. He and Gerard are both laying on the floor with their feet propped up on the sofa. How they got there Frank isn’t sure. He’s so glad this happened on a Friday, though, so he isn’t going to have to call in to work (or just suffer through it) in the morning.  
He looks at Gerard, who’s face is turned to the ceiling. He’s talking about some comic book artist, Frank can’t remember which one. He looks beautiful. His hair is splayed around his head and Frank can see his nose move just slightly when he talks, and he doesn’t even think about what he’s doing when he says “Gerard,” softly, like a statement, and Gerard just stops talking and turns to look him in the face.  
“Huh?” he asks, and Frank knows, suddenly, why he said Gerard’s name, and maybe this will backfire but hey, they just met today and maybe the loss won’t be _so_ bad if he runs screaming.  
Frank looks at Gerard’s eyes, then at his mouth, and back up, so that Gerard will at least know it’s coming. Then he leans forward, cover’s Gerard’s mouth with his own, and holds his body very, very still.  
It’s probably dumb and cliché and not even remotely true, but Frank feels like there are actual fireworks happening between them right now, right on his living room floor. If Gerard is taken by surprise, it only takes him a moment to get with the program and move his lips against Frank’s.  
They kiss for probably a minute or two, soft and slow, before Frank pulls back. He looks at Gerard and smiles, and he’s met with an image of Gerard wearing the same expression. His eyes are crinkled at the corners, and Frank lets out a tiny, nervous huff of laughter. “Anyway,” he clears his throat, and reaches over to take Gerard’s hand in his own. “His use of color?”  
Gerard blinks at him a few times while their fingers intertwine, like he’s still a little behind, but he catches up soon enough. “Yeah,” he says, holding Frank’s gaze. “I don’t know how he does it, man, but it’s like each panel bleeds into the next, y’know?”  
Frank nods, encouraging him to go on. His heart is beating out of his chest, and he is _so_ ready to just straddle Gerard’s lap and grind down against him, but he takes a breath to calm himself. They have all night.

**Author's Note:**

> There's gonna be another chapter to this because how could I post a work with no porn? I can't, is the answer. It'll probably come around the beginning of May at the latest. Title from the Blink-182 song of the same name. Enjoi~


End file.
